Of Envy and Denial
by Cumbersnog
Summary: ON HOLD! Pairing: NaruKiri. '...the sun shone on the morning dew, which looked as if a rain goddess had cried pulchritudinous and pristine, undisturbed tears of joy.' But when did it go so wrong?
1. The Beginning

Author's Note: This is my first story under my new penname. I only deleted my other stories a couple days ago.

Disclaimer: I don't own.

Story Notes:

-Aiko means beloved child.

-This is also a romance story. Naru-Naru will come in for the next chapter and on.

-Kiri is 16 right now.

-Emi-san is Aiko and Kiri's mom.

-Seiji-kun is Aiko and Kiri's dad.

Of Envy and Denial: Chapter OneKiri POV

I had known it for all my life. I knew I was always second banana to my beautiful older sister. I just couldn't accept it.

I wouldn't believe that Aiko, the goddess with luscious, curly auburn hair was the favorite. With her being only a year older than myself, I figured there wasn't any difference in how much love we received.

Boy, was I wrong.

As they say, denial is not only a river in Egypt. However, I denied my second-rate status for ten years. But as I got older, I started to realize things. The tenth year was a nightmare. Well, it was just that one day that sealed the deal. That day so long ago changed my life forever.

**Flashback (**this is important, so please read**).**

It was dinnertime at the Koshiba household. It was beginning to darken outside as night began to fall.

"Hey, Aiko," Emi-san called.

"Yes, Mom?" Aiko replied with a smile on her face. At the moment, Kiri and Seiji-kun were silently munching on their food.

"How would you like to come with me to the set of the movie I'm doing the makeup for tomorrow morning?" Emi-san asked.

"Really?! I'd love to go!" Aiko answered cheerily.

At this point, Kiri looked up from her food (A/N: BEFORE she was finished eating!

-SHOCKED-) "Oh! Mom, can I come, too?" Kiri asked expectantly.

"No, Kiri-chan," Emi-san answered, ready to restart the conversation with the elder sister, Aiko. "I can't take care of two children at once."

I knew it. Mom never takes me anywhere. It's always, 'You're too young to go!' Or, 'I can't take the both of you.' Or maybe, 'You can come if your father comes.' But that never happens. He's always lying around the house. So she always takes Aiko, claiming she's old enough to go with their mom.

I remember all those times when Mom and Aiko would go shopping without me and leave me at home with Dad. But it didn't even seem that way. I'd sit in my room with Shampoo, and he'd be downstairs giving people haircuts. I think hairstyling is cool, but I'd rather go out with Mom. However, I adjusted to being by myself.

But I didn't enjoy it.

Mom and Aiko continued to talk to each other as I saw Aiko flash me a look that said, "Sorry." 'That doesn't help. You're not sorry. Not really. You don't even understand. You don't know what this feels like.'

I slumped down further in my seat as the conversation around me was drowned out by the sound of my heart pumping in my ears as it constricted and seemed to twist around in my chest.

I guess my father saw me as I sunk further down my seat until my chin almost touched the table, but I was surprised because he said something. "Emi-san, why don't you take Kiri-chan with you? It's only a few blocks away from here," Seiji-kun suggested. "And I'm sure someone as strong and beautiful as you could handle both children."

"Oh, Seiji-kun! You're so sweet! Of course, I am strong enough to take both kids!" Emi-san gushed.

I gasped. Was I really going to be able to join Mom and Aiko to go somewhere special? I was beginning to smile, which was something I had almost forgotten how to do!

"Girls! Remember to be downstairs by 10:00 sharp!" Emi-san commanded before she sat down to be all lovey-dovey with Seiji-kun. "Oh, you are too much!" (A/N: lovey-dovey… barfy-warfy)

I was so excited! I could finally go with them!

_Normal POV_

Aiko sat in her chair as she watched the happy scene before her. She was very grateful that her younger sister could join them. She smiled a warm smile that was so sweet that bees would come looking for nectar if she was outside.

-The Next Morning-

Emi-san, Aiko, and Kiri were walking along in a large, clean, and pretty neighborhood. Beautiful blue birds flew around as the sun shone on the morning dew, which looked as if a rain goddess had cried pulchritudinous and pristine, undisturbed tears of joy. That only skimmed the surface of the lightness of Kiri-chan's mood.

"So, this is the neighborhood of the house we're filming the movie in. The movie is called, 'The Nightmare of the Unwanted,' and I'm doing the special effects makeup!" Emi-san explained exuberantly while they all strolled through he neighborhood to reach the house of the set.

"Wow, Mom! That's so cool! I can't believe you're doing makeup for a horror movie! It's so exciting! Congrats!" Aiko exclaimed.

"Yeah, Mom! I know you'll do great on this movie!" Kiri added cheerfully.

"Thanks, Aiko. Now, follow me. We need to cross the road, now." Emi-san pushed them along in front of her as they stepped over the crosswalk. (A/N: Kiri was so excited, so she had a limited attention span.)

They had successfully crossed the street. "Okay, you two. We have to cross over into the culdesac and go through that park because on the other side of it is the movie set!" Emi-san called as she glanced over her shoulder at her two daughters. Something seemed to catch her eye, but neither of the young girls took notice.

They proceeded to walk over the asphalt towards the park. (A/N: well, you know how rich neighborhoods have tennis courts and swimming pools? This one has so many kids that they have their own park…-sweatdrops-)

_Kiri POV_

Emi-san and Aiko suddenly sped up quite significantly. I tried to match their steps. At first, I wasn't so concerned. But when they were more than three meters away, I started getting worried…and scared. Emi-san was holding Aiko's arm as I watched them drift further and further away. I tried to speed up, but they both had such long legs, and they traipsed away in really lengthy strides.

I tried calling out to them, but I felt something pull on my arm. I looked over my shoulder to see a large man dressed in a black suit, holding my arm behind my back. I screamed as loud as I could to no avail. Neither Mom, nor Aiko looked back at me.

"Yes, sir. We got her. We caught Emi Koshiba's precious daughter, Aiko," another man wearing an Armani suit said into a cell phone. I tried to yell out for help, but fear seemed to shock me, and the hand covering my mouth muffled any sound I made.

Mother and Aiko were already what seemed like miles away. I panicked as I saw them gaining even more speed as they turned toward the entrance of the neighborhood.

'They're not leaving me here, are they?! Where are they going?!'

**Author's Note****: **I'm sorry that this sucks. All in all, I have grown quite pessimistic, haven't I? This story came to me in a dream, or rather, a nightmare, and it haunted me day and night. This was the first part of my dream exactly, except I converted it into Beauty Pop characters. And, instead of my mom and brother, it became Emi-san and Aiko (Kiri's sister).

Remember:

_Reviews are one,_

_Fire is cool_

_Flames are fun,_

_But putting them on a story is just too cruel!_

Review if you wish for me to continue this story.

This is a shout-out to all younger siblings! If you care, drop a review.


	2. Fear

Author's Note: Continuing Kiri POV and flashback.

Disclaimer: Disclaimers are stupid because you already know I don't own, so no longer will I repeat it on this story.

Chapter 2

Last Chapter:

'_Where are they going?!'_

Now:

'What's happening?' I thought as the man in the Armani suit stepped up to me, cell phone in hand, seemingly appraising my worth.

I wanted to scream, to shout, to kick the guy in his crotch (A/N: Aha!), but I couldn't speak or move much.

The man holding me back had lifted his hand from my mouth, seeing as there was nobody else around, but still, I could form no words. I was scared; I had no doubt of that. I was frozen, feeling a fear unbeknownst to me as I had never felt it before, like some unknown apparition, ablating my courage and allocating it to the outer reaches of some place that I felt I could never apprehend (A/N: OKAY! Accentuating Alliteration too much!).

The Armani guy seemed to finish looking me over and continued speaking into his phone, "Yup. This is her, alright. Long auburn hair, light, peachy skin. Little on the short side, though."

Behind the men, a black BMW 5-series with a number one on the license plate followed a boy about my age as he ran for dear life.

"Sho-chan! Come on! Let's go to the salon with Papa!" a middle-aged old man called to the boy.

"No, Dad! Everybody's so touchy-feely there!"

The men seemed too preoccupied with their catch, namely me, to notice the ruckus. I, however, continued speculating the antics of the father and son. 'They sure don't seem like father and son, though.'

I watched as the kid, Sho-chan, apparently, jumped behind a garbage can as his father yelled, "Sho-chan! Where are you?" His father continued driving down the block, almost leaving my view. 'Weird.'

'Wait! Someone's here!' My newfound hope encouraged me to scream out as loud as I could.

"Help! HELP me!" I yelled over and over before the man behind me clamped his hand on my mouth once again.

However, it seemed that 'Sho-chan' had heard me as he was, at the moment, skulking up behind the big lummox of a man with the cell.

Small as he was, he slipped around cell phone guy and did a drop kick in an unmentionable spot on the guy holding me captive.

"Aah! Damn kid! What the heck?!" he yelled.

'Sho-chan' grabbed my hand, and regardless of the tiny red spots on his arm, we ran as fast as two little kids could. I stumbled, falling to my knees on the hard pavement, but he didn't abandon me, despite the danger of the men on our tails.

He led me in between two whitewashed suburban houses, and we squeezed behind a bush together. It seemed he couldn't trust me to trust him as he held his hand over my mouth and crouched over me.

Being up close to his face as he watched for the kidnappers, I realized he seemed familiar. Then, I noticed that a small emblem of a number one was embroidered to his shirt. 'How pious. Oh! The contest!' I remembered the small hairstyling competition I had won. It was fun to watch this kid drop down in defeat as if losing to anyone was the end of the world.

Just then, Sho-chan and I saw the kidnappers approaching, with their looming shadows enveloping us.

"Thought you could get away, huh, kid?" one of them said as he lifted Sho-chan by his shirt collar.

"Uh…" Sho-chan stuttered, clutching at his neck. They were hurting him!

'It's my chance to act! I have to help!' I thought as I jumped up and smacked the man who was holding Sho-chan.

"Why you…!" he yelled, reaching for me, but before he could get to me, a hand draped over his shoulder. It was another man in a suit.

'When will this end?!' I thought with both fear and anticipation as I clung to Sho-chan.

"Well, well, well! Look at what we have here," a slightly familiar voice called out. "Four men attacking mere children." It was Sho-chan's father! "I'm a powerful man, you people. Do you dare to bother the son of Narumi Yujiro?

The men cringed as they saw him. I saw them scream and flail their arms as they raced away. Though, it could have been because they saw a ginormous bodyguard, standing nearby the man.

"Sho-chan!" Narumi-san yelled as he squeezed his son in a big hug. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine! I'm fine!" Sho-chan assured his father while defending himself from Narumi-san's rather… poisonous kisses, from the look of it.

Just who were my saviors, exactly?

To my surprise, Sho-chan knelt down in front of me, pointing out my bloody, scraped knees and a couple of scratches on my face. I hadn't even noticed them as the adrenaline pumping through my body was far too strong, clouding my mind. I was still scared.

Sho-chan asked me, "Are you okay?" 'Not really.' "Well, you have scraped knees and scratches." Then, he turned to his father. "Hey, Dad, let's take her back to the salon to fix her up."

"Sure, okay, Sho-chan!" the man said as he approached me. I jumped back away from him, uncomfortable with men from my fateful encounter with the kidnappers. "Oh, it's alright! I won't hurt you," he coaxed.

"N-no, it's okay," I said anxiously as I stepped backwards.

"It's alright; we won't hurt you," Sho-chan said.

"N-no, it's fine. I can get home on my own."

"But aren't you afraid of this happening again?" Sho-chan asked with a worried look on his face. He was right; it was as if he had stared right into my heart and realized the truth. I was frightened of another incident.

But, the fear of jumping into a car with a creepy old man overwhelmed my apprehension of another kidnapping. That could turn into another kidnapping in a second! Even with Sho-chan coming along, I couldn't trust the man.

"My house is close. I'll be fine." I lied. I knew I wouldn't be fine. I would jump at every rustle of a bush or a flutter of a bird's wings in the sky.

"Well… okay," Sho-chan agreed warily, eyeing me suspiciously, with evident concern for my bloody knees, as he was ushered into the car by his father.

After his last worried glance at me form the car's backseat, I started my journey back home…alone. And id did cringe at the rustle of bushes, squirrels running up trees, and all other noises.

In fact, I saw a man with a plastic bag dangling from his arm as he walked along the sidewalk, going the opposite direction I was going, with mere meters separating us. The bag looked like an innocent shopping bag, but you never know; he could have just been at a knife store, buying knives or something (A/N: Hehehe…). As I nervously passed him, I caught a store brand name on it: WALMART.

Oh.

'This will be a long trip home… if I ever make it back.'

Author's Note: -heaves a heavy sigh- That took a while to write. But I didn't like this chapter. It was harder to write, and it wasn't interesting to me.

I'll enjoy writing the next chapter, depending on whether or not the wonderful readers wish me to continue, even though I am sometimes bad at updating. I should do one-shots.

Well then! We all like green buttons, so maybe you'll try and press the one under these rambling paragraphs.

So, feel free to (or be forced to) review.

~.


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